Invisible Ties
by tenchaberry5199
Summary: Collection of short stories based on and inspired by Fire Emblem: Awakening and Hyakunen Isshu (A Hundred Poems). Chapter 2: Ever Since We Parted [Lon'qu/Severa] Severa found a pair of hair ornaments she fancies at a bazaar, but when the merchant mistook her and Lon'qu as siblings, she realized that perhaps he was not the father she longed for.
1. When the Moon Looks Down

_**Oe no Chisato**_

_**#23**_

_When the moon looks down  
On our thousands of kinds of  
Sadness, this autumn  
In the autumn of my life  
Comes not to my life only._

_Translation by Tom Galt, 1982_

* * *

A few hours before dawn, nobody in the barrack was awake. The chilly night air in the month of a coming autumn never failed to keep everyone wrapped tightly under their blankets—except for Robin. The true, final battle against Grima was right in front of her. What she saw and heard earlier that day were recorded right in her mind, which repeats over and over again like a broken record, preventing her from closing her eyes and forgetting everything for a slight moment.

She stood outside the barrack alone, observing it from quite a distance. The wind brushed gently against her pale skin and long, pony-tailed and side-braided platinum hair, bringing the cold and solitude closer to her heart. "Aah," she hummed to herself. "The autumn sure is coming."

Robin started walking away, slowly but surely. Again, the words she heard that afternoon rang in her ears. Her vision grew hazy, and she could feel her eyes heating up. However, she ignored them and continued walking, through bushes, grasses, and trees, until she could only hear the soft sound of her own footsteps. This might be the first time that she walked out alone so aimlessly. Since the day where Chrom found her lying on an open field, she never felt this alone. There were always warmth, smile, and acceptance—but not right now.

She didn't know just how long she had walked until she stepped on a rather dry branch. She lifted her head, and the light in her eyes returned as soon as she realized that she arrived right on the side of a lake not too far away from where she came from. The moon was shining brightly—it was a full moon with no clouds but stars. It was a gentle moonlight but lonely as well, and Robin could feel her chest tightened.

With both arms hugging her legs, Robin sat down on the dry grass. Her eyes were fixed on the gentle moonlight that silently bathed her body. She knew that the moon is always at its prettiest side in the autumn, and that night's full moon clearly reflected her belief. Still, how did she know? Perhaps from one of those carefully kept old books she found at the dusty sections of the castle's library... or perhaps she learned that before, sometime, somewhere in the past she could not remember. She could feel her arms hugging tighter. Her eyes darkened, and she buried her face, but no tears were falling out.

_Has it always been this lonely and sad?_

"Oh, mother?"

Robin looked up as the young woman in blue called out to and walked toward her. Her boots made a calming, soft sound as it brushed against the yellowed grass. A slight smile was carved on her lips, and her eyes were fixed at Robin adoringly. Robin stared in disbelief at her for a fraction of second, but her startled face quickly turned into a welcoming expression, with warmth—and hidden sadness. "Something troubling you, Lucina?"

"Ah, no," Lucina shook her head softly. Her smile remained still. "Something woke me up, so I decided to take a little walk outside. How about you?"

Robin smiled a bit. "Me too."

For a while, there was absolute silence. Lucina sat beside her mother, and both of them looked up, gazing at the flawless late-summer moon.

"It's weird that we don't have that much gap in age. People would mistake us as sisters." Robin said, finally, laughing at her silly thought.

"I have to agree." Lucina replied, chuckling softly beside her. She looked down on her feet, speaking in a low voice, which sounded like a shivering whisper in Robin's ears. Her smile wasn't as lively now. "Still, I'm happy to be able to see you again, Mother. It's been such a long time since the last time I saw your face. It's been such a long time since I've seen you laughing so freely like this. It's been such a long time since I heard your voice, calling my name so gently.

I never told anyone because I'm the princess they rely on to bring down Grima and restore the peace, but truthfully I was scared—scared at the possibility that someday I will forget how you and father looked or sounded like. You wouldn't know how happy I was when I saw you two, alive and well in this time. If it wasn't for my mask, perhaps I'd have rushed into your arms or cried."

Lucina closed her eyes for a moment, and Robin, whose eyes were fixed on her daughter, listened faithfully. It was as if she doesn't want to lose a single word or breath. She didn't say a thing, waiting for Lucina to say something else, but she remained silent. Her eyes were staring blankly at the graceful reflection of the moon on the surface of the dark lake. Knowing that Lucina needed time to recollect herself, Robin raised her voice. "Lucina, I—there's something I've wanted to ask you," she said. "Is it all right?"

"Anything, mother!"

Lucina stared at Robin's face long, and she returned her gaze to her right back.

"In the future, I—my other self—"

Robin paused. Her throat suddenly felt dry like a dried up well, but she forced herself to continue. "...killed Chrom and turned into Grima. Wouldn't that also mean that the me Grima possesses, who we are about to face, was once me—was once the mother you knew and gave birth to you?"

The time seemed to have stopped for both of them. Lucina's lips parted slightly as she stared at Robin with such startled eyes, but she soon snapped out of it. Again, a sad, weak smile formed on her lips. A gentle wind blew, framing more of her face with her own brilliant blue-colored hair, which reminded Robin so much of the man she loves.

"That's... correct," Lucina replied, shutting her eyes in pain, and then slowly opening them again. Robin could see a glint of loneliness in her eyes as she turned to face her. "However, my mother is gone. She is no longer herself... she is no longer the mother I knew... she isn't _her _any longer. We all saw her! The mother I knew would have never done what she did to father! She wouldn't have abandoned us! She isn't—"

Robin didn't know what drove her into bringing Lucina in her arms even before she finished her sentence. She wanted to calm her down, let her know that she is not alone, ease her pain and make her smile. From the very beginning, she knew how to handle both swords, tomes and enemies alike, but she didn't know what to do except hugging her right now without saying anything.

Tears gushed out of Lucina's eyes as she clutched Robin's robe as though she never wanted to let go. She sobbed quietly, and Robin could imagine how hard she must be biting her lips right now as to prevent herself to cry out. "I never wanted to believe that my mother would betray us... Even now—even now I don't want to believe it at all. I only know a little about you and father, but all I want to believe... all I want to remember is the you who were always so gentle and kind of a mother to both me and Morgan. But in the end, I lost everything because I was weak. I lost father, you, and Morgan—all because I wasn't capable of continuing you and father's cause..."

"That's not true. You fought well. I'm sorry, dear," Robin stroked Lucina's hair gently. She shut her eyes as she kept Lucina close in her embrace, feeling both pain and anger that fill up inside her. "I'm sorry that I left you. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you. I'm sorry that I didn't return to you. I'm sorry that I picked the wrong path and made you fight all this time.

But hear me: tonight, I swear to you that I will never leave you by yourself. I swear that I will protect you with my life, as my life has always been yours. I swear that I will always return to you regardless of where I go. I swear that I will find a way for you to live happily and put Falchion to rest. I swear that we will change the future. You have done enough. This time... it is my turn. So stick with me until the end and see it for yourself, okay? See for yourself that we will definitely change the future."

Robin smiled gently at Lucina and wiped her tears off her face. Lucina nodded and smiled back at her—the brightest smile Robin has even seen of her daughter. "Yes, mother!"

Robin could not tell how much time has passed since she told Lucina to go back to the barrack and get some rest. She was still, but then she called out to someone without looking away from the moon she was gazing at tirelessly: "You can come out now, Chrom."

Noises of somebody walking through against the bushes turned Robin around. She snorted as soon as she saw Chrom standing and smiling directly behind her. "Now I know from whom Lucina inherited that eavesdropping habit of hers."

"No kidding," Chrom replied. "I mean... I was just passing by."

"From the very start?" Robin raised her left eyebrow.

"Uh... from the very moment you left our tent?"

Robin laughed at his answer and troubled face. She softly rested her head on Chrom's shoulder when he joined and sat next to her. The warmth that was transmitted somehow sobered her up from the troubling thoughts she had before she came to the lakeside. Everything became clearer, and she suddenly felt safe and at peace. She closed her eyes and whispered quietly. "We will change the future, right?"

Chrom looked at her with gentle but determinate eyes. "We will. You swore to do so, remember? See it happen with your own eyes."

She chuckled and opened her eyes, staring back again at the moon whose light shone so brightly in the midst of the cold dawn. They stayed where they were without exchanging any more words, cherishing each other's company and the little time they have together until the sun finally raises—a mark of another battle to come.


	2. Ever Since We Parted

_**Mibu no Tadamine**_

_**#30**_

_The dawn moon  
Was cold and indifferent  
Ever since we parted,  
There was no misery  
More grieving than the daybreak_

* * *

That day was exceptionally hot. However, the heat did not stop the bazaar, which was buzzing with inaudible, idle talk between customers, travelers who came far from Ylisstol, and the locals, from catching Severa's attention. Sometimes, she could make out either heated or friendly conversations that are going on around her with the two little ears of hers. Her gaze swept through the crowded tents and displayed goods, looking for something worthwhile to bring back to the barrack, aside from the huge bags of groceries her father already held with both of his arms.

Lon'qu hated the heat. All he wanted to do after a day long walk of grocery shopping was to return to the barrack and cool off. He stood still, ignoring the many people who bumped into him as they were walking away, although he grew more and more irritated at the black-haired girl, who doesn't seem to understand how annoyed he was. Lon'qu let out a heavy sigh. "Isn't it time to go back?"

The girl didn't turn her head around to face him. Her eyes were glued to a pair of displayed hair ornaments. The ornaments were hexagonal snowflake-shaped and strangely bore different colors, scarlet and black obsidian, depending on how the light fell on them. Severa carefully picked the hair ornaments up and dangled them as she observed how they gracefully change colors. "Oh, it's fine! We still have time until the sun set! Hey, mister, how much does this pair cost?"

An old man with remarkably thin eyes and white, long beard let out a thunderous laugh, which, by the way, successfully irritated Lon'qu even more. If only he could sheath his sword at him without Chrom and Robin's warning resonating in his head, that old man must be muted for good now. "You have good eyes, young lad! That pair on your hand was brought especially from Valm. Originally, these babies were carefully crafted by the hands of Valmese craftsmen and were either sold to or stolen by the Fexori barbarians. They'll look good on you, miss! I'll get you a cheap price for them, so care to ask your scary brother there to buy 'em for ya? Hee hee."

"M-my brother? Old man, are you blind?! Can't you see that old-timer right there is obviously my da—" Severa responded in haste. Her cheeks were flustered with pink shades that later turn as red as the ornaments on her hand. However, before she finished her sentence, she glanced at Lon'qu through the corner of her eyes, and almost immediately her expression turned dark with realization and apparent disappointment. "Ah..."

Lon'qu tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at his future daughter's sudden change. Part of him was glad that perhaps she was going to comply with his desire to return, but Severa stood up without saying anything or even looking at him. She seemed to have lost interest over the hair ornaments, for she stared coldly at the old merchant, who was still trying to promote his goods at her, told him to go die by the jaws of a thousand Wyverns, and walked away.

"Oi, Severa, the barrack is not that way—"

"Shut up, leave me alone! I'm not going back with you!" Severa growled at Lon'qu. She started walking again but turned around, irked when he followed her. "Nobody said you can come with me! Don't you want to go back? Then go!"

Lon'qu sighed and scratched his head, making a completely troubled face. "...Why are you angry?"

"Does it matter to you?! I'm a grown woman! I get pissed at everyone every now and then for no good reason! If you're my dad... you're supposed to understand that about me already..." Severa paused, looking down at her own feet and clenching her fingers inside her palms. Her palms started hurting her, but she didn't care. "...but you're not him, and I'm not your daughter... The two of you look so much alike that I start to believe that you're the same person as my dead, good-for-nothing father... What was I thinking?"

Without saying anything else, Severa turned her back at him and started running as fast as her feet could take her, ignoring the continuous call Lon'qu made from afar. She kept on running, bumping into one person to another, until she could not hear his voice anymore.

When she lifted her head, all she could see was the pitch black of a hazy and warm night. Houses surrounding her illuminated the rocky road with dim lights of lanterns and oil lamps, which is visible from their wooden windows. It was quite apparent she ended up at one of the villages just outside Ylisstol.

"_What's with you? All you talk about is CHROM, CHROM, and CHROM! If he is all that matters to you, why didn't you just marry him?"_

_The fire on the oil lamp flickered as a result of the double banging Severa made on the table. She turned her face away from her mother's, who stared at her with disbelief and parted lips. Her father said nothing, but his face was stern. He stood against the wall, both arms crossed, and eyebrows furrowed. "Severa..." Cordelia let out a heavy sigh. She glanced at Lon'qu, but her husband didn't budge. "We're leaving at daybreak."_

_Deep down, Severa knew that nothing she said would change her parents' mind. They're going to fight for what mattered. "...You're still going?! Do I matter that little to you two? Che, do whatever you want! Just don't come home crying like a headless pegasi because I wouldn't care! You stupid parents!"_

"AAAAHHHHH!"

A frightened scream broke the quite night, startling Severa who was walking aimlessly, and waking everyone else who was ready to tuck themselves in bed. Almost immediately, a swarm of Risens came out of the woods surrounding the village. They were dead and running toward the village, smacking everything on their way. They swung their axes and swords—sporadically and aimlessly, along with the stench of bloodlust coming from their every single movement. Severa could smell the reek of rotten meat and blood from where she stood. Just the thought of it made her sick.

"Mamaaa!"

Severa unsheathed her sword, clashing it with the giant Tomahawk that was aimed at a little girl, who is stumbled on the ground, crying for a mother who is nowhere to be seen. Severa clenched the hilt of her sword and bit her lips harder. The risen tilted his head at her in an eerie manner and pressed his axe harder at her.

_What am I supposed to do, then, except to fight every single day, wishing for peace that may or may not come?_

"Get out of my face, you freak!" With a swift, single cut through the neck, Severa pushed the risen away from the girl. She skillfully twirled the sword in her hand and delivered another cut, a stab right though the Risen's heart, which altered the dead fighter's body into dim purple dust that ultimately vanished.

_What am I supposed to do, then, except to secretly pray and cry by myself every night, wishing for parents who would never return home?_

Severa had seen such spectacle hundreds and thousands times over, but in the future, there was no definite end. There was no "this war will end tomorrow" no matter how much she fights. Severa stared down at the little girl, trying to see if she has any injuries. She was still trembling and crying in fear but stopped calling out for her mother. "It doesn't look like you're injured anywhere. Gawds, just what are you doing here alone? Where is your mo—"

In a fraction of seconds, before she finished her question, Severa noticed that the girl's face turned blue. She was looking at something behind her with indescribable fear. Her eyes widened and her mouth was parted, but no cry came out at all. When Severa hastily turned her around and looked up, the corners of her eyes caught a glimpse of a Risen swinging his sword directly at her.

With every little time she had to react, Severa reached to the little girl, grabbed her and threw herself forward as far as she could to dodge that attack. The palm of her right hand was hurting her because of the friction it had to endure in order for her to stop and balance herself. She thought for a second she safely dodged any serious injuries from that attack, but when she saw blood gushing out from her left thigh, she knew it is not going to be pretty.

_It was daybreak. Young Severa stared at the backs of her parents as they walked away. She remembered the coldness of both the air and the moon above her head. The sky was still dark, but gentle colors crept in as the sun rose. The moon was visible, however, and there was no way Severa could never forget how indifferent and cold the half-moon was. _

_It was as cold as the sensation that slowly crept in her heart as she clutched her chest to restrain herself from running over to her parents. She hated daybreak ever since but couldn't help but to wake up and stand by the door of her house, watching the scenery as the sun rose in the distance and hoping that, at that moment, she would see her parents again._

_But she never did._

As though the Risens were moving in sync, another dead fighter looked up and stared at them as the previous one tried to get his sword off the ground. His strength was so monstrous that the rocky ground was cracked by the swinging of his sword. Severa kept the little girl behind her back and reached for her sword with her free hand, but the wound on her leg became unbearable all of a sudden. It came to a point where moving away from where she stood was impossible. The other Risen charged, raised his arm, and was about to deliver a blow with his spear when a swift figure blocked the attack, protecting them through a loud clash of metals.

It was Lon'qu.

"Dad!"

Lon'qu backed away and raised his sword once again. He twirled it on his hand, in an identical manner as Severa twirled hers, and delivered a stab right through the Risen's heart. The Risen that was armed with sword also charged as soon as the spear-armed one fell, but this time, Lon'qu did not even give him a chance to raise his weapon. In a blink of an eye and a single cut through the neck by the cutting edge of his sword, the Risen was brought down to his knees and disappeared. Lon'qu let out a sigh and sheathed his sword.

"Reene!" As soon as the last Risen vanished, a young woman appeared, calling out for her little girl. The little girl's face lit up as she saw her mother, and she ran to her arms. "Oh, thank gods you're okay...! I'm so sorry I scolded you... Promise me you will never run off like that again. Young lady, thank you so much for protecting my daughter..."

"N-no, I didn't really do anything," Severa blushed. She turned to the little girl and smiled, relieved that the little girl is now smiling so happily. "It's good that you get to see your mother again, isn't? Take care of her now."

The little girl nodded and waved her arm as her mother bowed at Severa and Lon'qu. When they are gone, Severa turned to her father, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't need your help! ...but thanks for saving me anyway. How did you know I was here?"

Lon'qu did not answer at first and glanced at Severa's leg. The bleeding was not as bad now, but he ripped his sleeve and squatted down to tighten the cloth around her thigh. Severa protested, but he ignored her. "People were saying that a black-haired girl is fighting Risens by herself... and I'm your father, whether you like it or not, so of course I'd know immediately it was you they were talking about," he said finally and turned his back to her. A gentle smile was carved on his lips as he offered her his back. "All right, hop on. We're going home."

It was weird, but, for some reason, this scenery did not seem like it just happened for the first time. Lon'qu must have carried her on his back when she was little too, although at that time she believed that his back was much wider. Severa did not say anything and reached for his father's back. He then stood up, carrying her on his back, and started walking. His body warmth was the same as she remembered.

A crescent moon was hanging over them. The cold daybreak moon she once knew emitted a dim light. However, she did not hate it when she looked up. The sky was dark, but she knew from the light pink color that slowly spread itself that the sun will soon rise. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth that somehow felt overwhelming, and clutched onto Lon'qu's back. It did not matter which world or time he came from—his kindness was still the same. His gentle smile, warmth and everything she ever remembered of him were still the same. Nothing had changed even one bit.

Just before they reach the barrack, Lon'qu suddenly stopped walking. He put the confused Severa down and reached for something in his pocket—it was the pair of hair ornaments she saw earlier that day. "I don't know if I ever got you something like this in the future," he smiled only a little, but it was the gentlest she had ever seen of her father. He handed the hair ornaments to her, which Severa reached to and dangled in front of her eyes in disbelief. "It doesn't matter what will happen in the future. It may not be much, but I want to make up the time we lost, even just a little, and apologize for leaving you alone in the future."

Severa could feel her eyes heating up, and, almost immediately, she jumped into her father's arms. He fell over with a loud thud, but Severa did not bother to do anything else but cry. She started and kept on crying in his arms for the longest time she ever remembered herself crying, letting go of everything she had to endure with Lon'qu comforting and warm hand on her head.

For the first time, ever since they parted, the daybreak seemed to be the happiest time she ever found herself in.


End file.
